called; but half his Christmas would be spoilt by the disappointment he
would try hard to hide. Had they not suffered together, and had not the
boy sacrificed the best of his small possessions, dearly treasured, to
help in their joint distress? It would be nothing short of brutal to
deprive him of the first moment of triumphant surprise, that was going
to mean so much hereafter. Yet the inventor would have given anything to
be alone. He was overwrought by the long strain that had so often seemed
unbearable, and when the liquid that was heating had reached the right
temperature and the iron pot had to be taken off the stove, his hands
shook so that he nearly dropped it; but Newton did not see that.

"It's wonderful how everything has come out just right!" the boy
exclaimed as he looked at the machine. "Out of your three wishes you'll
get two, father, for the wheel will go round and I'm going to have a
regular old patent, double-barrelled Christmas with a gilt edge!" His
similes were mixed, but effective in their way. "And you'll probably get
the other wish in half a shake now, for mother'll come right home, won't
she?"

"If the trial succeeds," Overholt said, still instinctively seeking to
forestall a disappointment he did not expect. "Nothing is a fact until
it has happened, you know!"

"Well," said Newton, "if I had anything to bet with, and somebody to bet
against, I'd bet, that's all. But I haven't. It's a pity too, now that
everything's coming out right. Do you remember how we were trying to
make bricks without straw less than a month ago, father? It didn't look
just then as if we were going to have a roaring old Christmas this year,
did it?"